Valentine’s Day Crafts and BP Oil Spill in the Weekly News Roundup- February 14, 2014

Valentine’s Day is here! If you’re looking for some wildlife-themed V-Day crafts and recipes to try out with your kids, we’ve got you covered. Here are 13 activities that will help make Valentine’s Day extra sweet this year!

“Nearly four years after the initial explosion, the impacts of the Gulf oil disaster continue to unfold,” said Ryan Fikes, Gulf Restoration Scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. “Today we learned that BP oil can lead to heart attacks and death in tuna, and that similar cardiac impacts may have occurred in a number of other Gulf species. BP and the other responsible companies need to be held fully accountable for their negligence. As research continues to confirm additional impacts from the oil disaster, it is imperative that penalties from the spill be dedicated to the restoration of the Gulf of Mexico.”This research will be published in the February 14th edition of Science.

BLM officials said during a recent Park County commissioners’ meeting that a master leasing plan for South Park is “a go.” Tom Heinlein, the BLM’s Front Range district manager, said South Park is one of the master leasing plans “we will undertake.”

Along with the commissioners and town councils in Park County, sportsmen’s and wildlife groups formally requested a master leasing plan for South Park. The high-elevation basin, ringed by mountains, is the headwaters of the South Platte River, a source of drinking water for Denver, Aurora and other Front Range cities and is a premier hunting and fishing area. missioners’ meeting that a master leasing plan for South Park is “a go.” Tom Heinlein, the BLM’s Front Range district manager, said South Park is one of the master leasing plans “we will undertake.”

For the movement, the project was a tangible symbol of business-as-usual for U.S. energy policy, and it was easier to organize around than a complicated cap-and-trade scheme. The driving forces were well-known national environmental groups, including policy-based organizations like the NRDC and the National Wildlife Federation; direct action groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth; and several local and international grass-roots organizations.

Temple Black went on to sit on the boards of corporations and organizations including the Walt Disney Company, Del Monte and the National Wildlife Federation. She unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Republican in 1967. She was appointed as America’s ambassador to Ghana in 1974.